The German Patent DE 6 71 328 describes a centrifugal ball switch where the ball rolls unhindered under the influence of its own centrifugal force and produces the requisite contact pressure in that the movable parts holding the ball are checked by projections, for example, in response to the closing of the switch.
The German Patent DE 39 21 926 C1 describes an electrical switch for movable devices or device parts which switches automatically as a function of the position and/or movement. The switch is composed of a housing of insulating material in which outwardly projecting electrical contacts are nonadjustably fixed. Configured so as to be freely movable on the inside of the same is a contact member of electrically conductive material that cooperates with the fixed contacts for closing and opening operations. The movable contact member is a ball; the fixed contacts are metallic contact pins which are configured in parallel or substantially in parallel. Two contact pins can be electrically bridged at any one time by the ball when it is in the appropriate, corresponding position.
The German Patent Application DE 103 53 438 A1 describes a contact configuration for rotary and slide switches. A spring-loaded contact part assumes both the stopping, as well as the contact function. The contact part is a spring-mounted ball, for example, which engages in bores of a circuit board whose bore edges are provided with printed conductors that are divided into sections, the conductive balls interconnecting the sections.
A ball switch for signaling selectable inclination directions of a base plane is described in the German Utility Model G 91 06 217.9 U1. The final bearing positions of the switching balls are circular and are constituted of narrowing recesses in a side wall of the interior space disposed on the base wall. They are dimensioned in such a way that their axis of symmetry extends through and directly above the center of the switching ball which moves onto the corresponding corner of the base polygon, engaging thereon. Each recess is joined via a bore, which leads into the base of the recess, to a light-tight chamber which is assigned only to this recess and within which one of the light-transmitting elements or light-detector elements is configured.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,410,113 describes a motion sensor which is composed of two substrates, of contact means, and of at least one electrically conductive element. On its main side, the first substrate has an exposed, electrically conductive layer. The second substrate has a through-hole which extends from one main side to the other. The first and second substrate rest contiguously against one another on the main side in such a way that the contact surface on the first substrate appears within the front end of the through hole. The freely movable element held in the through-hole is able to electrically bridge the conductive layer on the first substrate via contact means on the inner wall of the bore.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,987,988 describes an acceleration sensor which is composed of a hollow cylinder chamber having a tubular contact surface on the interior. This hollow cylinder chamber has a bottom and a cover plate. In this configuration, an electrically conductive ball is enclosed, which, in response to a position of rest or uniform movement of the chamber, assumes a stable position by way of a central recess in the base area. In response to sufficient acceleration, the central recess and an adjacent annular surface, which are not contacted by the tubular contact surface, are bridged by the enclosed ball during sustained high acceleration because the ball is deflected out of its position of rest during such a phase.
The German Patent DE 101 58 416 C1 and the European Patent Application EP 1 316 981 A1 describe a multi ball-switch arrangement that is assembled from a plurality of plates in a layer- or stack-type of construction. The ball-switches are arranged in a serial configuration. Substantially identical circular disks of electrically conductive material are located on a first plate, the exterior plate. A contact tag extends radially outwardly from each of these circular disks to the edge of the ball switch formed therewith. Via this contact tag and by way of a galvanically through-plated bore, the circular disk is electrically connected to solder pads located on the bottom side of the circuit board. (In this regard, see the drawing including FIG. 1 through 10.) The circular disk is electrically connected to the contact track via an electroplated bore. The contact track is located in a different plane than the circular disk in order to provide the electrical isolation between the chamber and contact track.
This design is costly since the plate bearing the circular disk is made up of two plates. The two plates are laminated together following the wet chemical patterning of the contact track and of the circular disk and are electrically interconnected via a galvanically coated bore. This type of design is expensive in terms of process engineering.